The Melbourne Age on Alcohol.

Northern Advocate, 22 September 1906, Page 6 (Supplement)

The Melbourne Age on Alcohol.

(Published by arrangement with the Whangarei No-License League.) The following article appeared in a recent issue ol the Melbourne Age :— It is singular, that so few ot .the popular notions about alcoholic beverages are standing the test of scientilie inquiry .with any 'Success. Only a' 'short time iago some- spirituous liquor was held to be an absolute necessity in a generous diet. The British workman held stoutly to the belief that beer was the secret of vigour. The squire was fully persuaded that wine enriched his blood with the j spirit of a gentleman. Brandy came across to England from France under the proud name of.eau de vie, or water of life. The potent spirit which the Scot and Hibernian distilled as whisky established the most wonderful reputation as a patent medicine. It was freely recommended,and more freely taken, to reduce fev J er, as well as to keep out cold. By general acclamation alcohol was hailed as king ai foods and prince of medicines. It might be expected that behind all this enthusiasm there would be some foundation of- practical utility that science could investigate ■ with hope of separating the good ef- { fects of alcohol from the evil.: Strange enough, however, scierice has" not yet been able to get hold of any; facts which justify on utilitarian; grounds the vogue of spirituous liq-j uors. As the question stands to-day science advises a man to say that he" takes alcohol because he likes it, and* not to venture on practical reasons,* such as that it helps him to digest! his food, that it keeps off catarrh,! that it enables him to resume work when he is \vearied, or that it makes : him brilliant company. At the last! meeting of the British Medical Asso-; ciation a few days ago Sir Victor! Horsley, the eminent English sur-' gcon, made the startling declaration; that the value of alcohol as a drug! is practically nil. Even quite a large' number of teetotallers have been ad-* mitting freely that alcohol has great? potency as a medicine in spite of the) dangers of its fascinations for a weak; brother. In shattering this supersti-l tion about the therapeutic values of alcohol, jiSjir Victor Horsley; is only; endorsing the conclusions reached .by' a small army of investigators into' the specific action of thousands of drugs. the agents relied upon -by.- the modern physician to produce specific useful effects alcohol Occupies a very humble place indeed; Yet the recent investigations which have been made into the composition of a host of patent medicines have revealed the fact that : they are composed for the most part of alcohol and water. . The situation thus created would be ludicrous but for its very tragic side. The user of most of these patent nostrums pays a very stiff ! price for a very poor spirit, which, after all, is found to be one of the most insignificant drugs in the whole pharmacopoeia. The hoax upon the genuine teetotaller is particularly cruel with the alcoholic patent medicine, because he has conscientiously- made up his mind to avoid the taking of stimulants, and is nevertheless deceived into the habit of using them/ According to American experience patent medicines are responsible for converting numbers of shining lights in the W.C.T.U. into hopeless old topers. The most popular patent medicine in the United States is made by mixing a very strong vile spirit with water and burnt sugar. This is sold at twelve times its cost price. Although this merciless extortion aggravates the swindle, it really protects the teetotal public against the worst danger of the patent medicines, because it makes heavy drinking come so expensive when indulged in through the medium of a favourite cure-all. This peculiar experience of teetotallers with alcoholic patent niehicine throws a good deal of light on the cause of the vast popularity of alcoholic beverages. Such effect as they produce they achieve ak most immediately. They relieve at once the sense of slight fatigue, ■which is generally felt to be far more oppressive than it really is. Alcohol does not remove the fatigue, but merely dulls the part of the brain whose business it is to feel the weariness. But the power of abolishing a disagreeable feeling is one that appeals so strongly to our human pleasure in controlling our sensations that we can hardly resist the templation to avail ourselves of its aid. .Shakespeare has givcu us a wonderful study of the way in which alcohol I lias gained a reputation far beyond the warrant of its demonstrable utility. Caliban, the brutish monster who is a native of Prospcro's Island, task's wine for the first time when the drunken Stephano pours some down his throat. " I will kiss thy foot," he fawns ; "I prithee, be my .cod." Here is the whole fall into intemperance graphically sketched in a line or two. Bui, tlt'luising as is the enslavement lo stimulants of a, man, it becomes far more portentous in a wo- j num. Vet, according' to reliable an-! 1 lion lies, the consumption of alcohol I is still on the increase amongst the women of England, though declining ] a little amongst men. This is the j most alarming development possible J with the abuse of alcohol. The evij clena 1 is strong that excessive drink-

ing on the part of a wife is far more ominous for the family than that on the part of her husband. The mother's fall spoils the constitution of the children, whereas the father's tends mostly to expose them to the ills of poverty. As a lair constitution can stand the hardships of the poor without much deterioration, while no amount of comfort can repair inner unfitness, a mother's addiction to drink, is a more serious crime against society than a lather's. Moreover, drinking amongst women seems to work more havoc right through their moral characters. An English divorce judge, in summing up a case where : there had been a revolting display of ) female depravity, recently made this , declaration : "I am firmly convinced I that if drink were era,dicated\ this \ court might shut its doors, at any ] rate, for the greater part of the* < time." With so terrible a menace as the increase of feminine intemperance hanging over us, there is one more potent inducement to get at bedrock facts on the alcohol question, nkor generations man has been vouching emphatically for the indispensableness of alcohol as beverage and medicine. So it comes that the Licensing gill looms up of vast importance in, bur State politics. So it comes that vfe^ pass an Early Closing Act,. wlVlcji N ,', make 'it a petty crime to buy meat r \ or bread, the necessaries of jiTe, afr ter six o'clock, while the- shops ; for the sale of alcoholic ' liquors c:tn-,^tr tract customers up till nearly ie id-- • night: There seems, indeed, ttxte a total loss of the sense,; of pr,op?r&iqn when we come to deal with,, the alcor hoi question. It is all due ,to pur re- : peating the fancies of ages about jour beverages, as if they were soberly ascertained facts., It is :orilyv -within the last generation or two that manKind has begun to study the' alcohol' question dispassionatelyV;The investigations of chemists' and physiolph gfets are slowly leading to fhe s '-' ; cbh^ elusion that in future alcolior '^iil 'he far more important in huma^ indjis 1 „ tries than in huihan diets^ Ihfthe near future a!'man'-\wili;-not;''have>n7--excuse for : . saying that : ne s taices;^ alcohoi as a food 0* i^ediciniß^^Tn'.tlies^'cui-:,'/' pacities alcohol is already, bankrupt. '< The drinker of alcpjiolic beveiagjfe,!!! the future will have to takejb|s;stancl on lithe simple grpundi that he .drinks .; them, because, he likes- them. J That < will be an improvement, -as it •; ; will icarry drink,ingr out of contac* %with shams intiO;c|t^Tegion of those; •pei:^ ■; sonal tastes rabotft which there is aq; V \ disputing.:;. > •.-. -. , s^.;-.\ ;--•-; >■ \<i'^ 'y^f'